FEATURE TAKING THE LEAD
Health has always taken a back seat to safety, and psychological health and safety didn’t even get a seat in the car, but since the Covid-19 pandemic, things are changing. The scale of the work-related mental ill-health is staggering. According to the latest data from the Health and Safety Executive, work-related mental ill health is on the rise.
In 2018/19, 602,000 workers were suffering from work- related stress, depression or anxiety — but by 2020/21 that number had risen to 822,000 – an increase of 38%. The average length of absence for work-related stress, depression or anxiety is 21.6 days, with the average cost per absence being at least £18,500 (not long-term sickness). This will clearly impact both the productivity and bottom line of any organisation.
So, it no wonder that the HSE are focussing on this area in their new 10-year strategy plan: “…we are calling for a culture change across Great Britain’s workplaces, to ensure psychological risks are treated the same as physical ones in health and safety risk management.”
“THE AVERAGE LENGTH OF ABSENCE FOR WORK-RELATED STRESS, DEPRESSION OR ANXIETY IS 21.6 DAYS, WITH THE AVERAGE COST PER ABSENCE BEING AT LEAST £18,500.”
The issue of psychological health and safety is a global one with NGOs and governments around the world focussing attention on the issue. In Australia, there is new legislation and The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) have recently published their first-ever global guidelines on mental health and work, which aims to inform organisations about ensuring safe and supportive working conditions that prevent work-related causes of mental ill-health and promote mental health.
The WHO/ILO document is written as a ‘policy brief’ aimed at national and workplace policy- makers aka governments, employers, workers and their representatives, and sets out an approach to psychological health and safety of: prevent; protect and promote; and support, underpinned by an 'enabling environment'. Although it uses different language, what it is actually promoting is a health and safety management system approach – the classic Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) approach. Crucially though it is not saying that this should be a separate system, it should be embedded into the “existing OSH management system”.
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This means that it is health and safety professionals who need to take the lead. Of course, this can’t be done in isolation, just like a normal OSH management system – everyone in the organisation has a roll to play. In particular, it will require close working human resource/people functions, something which may not be working very well at the moment. It is going to take a shift change in collaborative working to really tackle the organisational causes of psychosocial risk.
For organisations wondering how to integrate psychological health and safety into their OSH management system, help is at hand. In June 2021, the International Standards Organization (ISO), published ISO 45003 on psychological health and safety management. This guidance document has been written to compliment ISO 45001 – the world first OSH management system.
Perhaps you are reading this as a health and safety professional and thinking you don’t know enough about psychosocial risks? Let me ask you a question – did you know about chemical risks when you started? What about falls from height, workplace transport or legionella? Probably not, but you learnt.
Psychosocial risk management is approached in exactly the same way as any other risk – you identify what the hazards are (the WHO/ILO guidance gives you an overview and ISO 45003 provides a comprehensive list); consider how big an issue it may be and who is at risk, how likely that risk is and the consequence (using data, reports, speaking with workers etc.) and then apply the hierarchy of control to eliminate or mitigate it. And just like other hazards, there is guidance on what controls should be used – from the regulators, in the WHO/ILO guidance and in ISO 45003. In fact, I could even argue that psychosocial hazards and risks are the easiest to navigate – as it’s simply about being human.
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It is going to take a shift change in collaborative working to really tackle the organisational causes of psychosocial risk and work-related mental ill-health, explains Kate Field, Global Head Health, Safety and Well-being at BSI.
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